Controversy is stirring in one northern Kansas town over permits for a proposed swine facility.

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Nelson family of Almena applied for a for the construction of their proposed hog facility.

The Department of Health and Environment said they have already approved their application but that does not mean approval of the official permit yet.

On Tuesday, the town of Almena hosted a public hearing to discuss the application.

Many farmers in town are voicing their concerns about the proposed facility.

“They don’t have the permits for them; they’re not the correct depths and all of that. They’re too close to one residence, the actual hog barn. We went over the fact that the waste water is going to be applied within the 1,000 feet,” said Casey Doll who is against the permit.

Many of them argued that it will not meet requirements by KDHE.

Julia Nelson, the daughter-in-law of the man submitting the permit, has responded to the community's concerns.

“As far as the land application, as long as we are staying within what the state deems as appropriate, then we can apply next to other individual’s fields, but there are many. They look at all the slopes out of the fields as far as run off control. If that would ever be an issue, there’s a lot of environmental issues that we go through to make sure there’s no run offs,” Nelson said.

KDHE has taken the comments from the public and have 180 days in total from when they initially received the application to approve the permit.

We will have more Sunday night at 10:35 p.m. on NTV's Grow regarding the hearing.